Pneumatised!

In an exciting match with South Korea’s Hwang Kyungseon, Karine Sergerie loses 2-1 and is awarded a silver medal.

Hwang Kyungseon is the welterweight World Taekwondo Champion for 2007 while Sergerie is the lightweight World Taekwondo Champion. A little lighter and shorter than Hwang, Sergerie had to work hard to shorten the distance between her and her opponent to land a kick scoring one point. Although having an early lead from the first round, Sergerie could not prevent Hwang from tying it up with a roundhouse kick under Sergerie’s arm in the second round. Hwang then took the lead late in the third round with a strong back kick leaving Sergerie 35 seconds to try to tie the match up. The final 35 seconds of the gold match was tense and fierce as Sergerie put more pressure on her opponent hoping to score another point to push the match into sudden death overtime. Unfortunately, 35 seconds was not enough time. Hwang stayed strong trying to increase the point gap and holding Sergerie off until the buzzer. Korea’s Hwang Kyungseon wins the gold medal in the women’s 67 kg leaving a silver for Canada’s Karine Sergerie.

Earlier in this competition, Hwang defeated Sheikha Maitha Almaktoum of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) in the preliminary match by a score of 5-1. Hwang then defeated Croatia’s Sandra Saric in the quarterfinals by a score of 3-1. In the semifinals, she defeated France’s Gwladys Patience Epangue in overtime with a score of 2-1 sending Epangue to the bronze medal match. Overall, she had a better fight record than Sergerie in this competition.

Both Sergerie and Hwang should be pround. They fought excellently. Sergerie knew going in that she might have to fight heavier opponents and she gave her opponent a good fight for the gold. No shame, be proud Sergerie, you did an excellent job representing Canadian taekwondo. There’s always the 2012 Olympics.

The bronze medal winners in this competition are Croatia’s Sandra Saric (who was defeated in the quarterfinals by Hwang) and France’s Gwladys Patience Epangue (who was also defeated by Hwang, although later in the semifinals).

In the men’s 80 kg, Iran’s Hadi Saei defeated Italy’s Mauro Sarmiento in the finals by a score of 6-4 capturing the gold medal and leaving Sarmiento with a silver medal. Bronze medal winners are China’s Zhu Guo and Steven Lopez of the U.S.A. China’s Zhu defeated Great Britain’s Aaron Cook by a score of 4-1, and U.S.A.’s Steven Lopez defeated Azerbaijan’s Rashad Ahmadov by a score of 3-2. Canada’s Sebastien Michaud lost the quarterfinal match to Azerbaijan’s Ahmadov and was not entered into the repechage as Ahmadov did not make it to the finals (gold medal match).

Summary:

Women’s 67 kg
Gold Korea Hwang Kyungseon
Silver Canada Karine Sergerie
Bronze Croatia Sandra Saric
Bronze France Gwladys Patience Epangue

Men’s 80 kg
Gold Iran Hadi Saei
Silver Italy Mauro Sarmiento
Bronze U.S.A. Steven Lopez
Bronze China Zhu Guo

Congrats to all the medalists! Way to go, Karine!

Links:
Results courtesy of the Beijing Olympics website
TSN’s article on Karine winning silver
CBC article on Sergerie winning silver
Globe and Mail article about Karine winning silver (Note: the article is incorrect. You are NOT allowed to punch to the head in Olympic taekwondo. There are two taekwondo federations, International Taekwondo (ITF) in North Korea and World Taekwondo (WTF) in South Korea. WTF is featured in the Olympics and no punches are allowed to the head, just the body. You get two points for kick to the head and one point for a punch or a kick to the body.)

~~~C

P.S. It doesn’t look like CBC will be providing a live feed for the remaining taekwondo competitions – men’s and women’s heavyweights. That is disappointing. In fact, I couldn’t get a live feed this morning to watch the bronze medal matches or any of the men’s matches. I think CBC needs to re-think their Olympic coverage plans for the future. You can get updates via the Beijing Olympic website.

In women’s 67 kg, Karine Sergerie wins her preliminary match over Australia’s Tina Morgan by the Rule of Superiority. Although the score was tied 0-0, she was clearly the dominant competitor having scored a point only losing it due to receiving two warnings (kyong-go in Korean). Sergerie performed stunningly in the quarterfinals defeating Argentina’s Vanina Paola Sanchez Beron by a score of 3-0. In the semifinals, Sergerie guarantees herself and Canada at least a silver medal by defeating Puerto Rico’s Asuncion Ocasio Rodriguez by a score of 2-0. Puerto Rico’s Ocasio Rodriguez will compete for the bronze medal. In the finals, Sergerie will fight against South Korea’s Hwang Kyungseon for the gold medal. The gold medal match will be at 8 a.m. ET.

In the men’s 80 kg, Sebastien Michaud defeats Angel Roman Martinez of Puerto Rico in the preliminary match by a score of 2-1 (won in sudden death overtime). In the quarterfinals, Michaud lost to Azerbaijan’s Rashad Ahmadov by the Rule of Superiority as it was tied 0-0 after sudden death overtime. Ahmadov scored one point but lost it due to receiving two kyong-gos. Because Michaud did not score a point, Ahmadov was ruled the superior competitor. Michaud would have moved to the repechage match only if Azerbaijan’s Ahmadov made it to the finals (gold medal match). Unfortunately, Ahmadov lost 4-1 to Iran’s Hadi Saei. The gold medal match for men’s 80 kg will be between Italy’s Mauro Sarmiento and Iran’s Saei at 8:15 a.m. ET.

~~~C

South Korea wins double gold in taekwondo – first in the women’s 57 kg, then in the men’s 68 kg.

Lim Sujeong of South Korea defeated Su Li-Wen of Chinese Taipei in the preliminary match by a score of 1-0. In the quarterfinals, she defeated Robin Cheong of New Zealand with a final score of 4-1. In the semifinals, she sent Veronica Calabrese of Italy to the bronze medal match winning with a score of 5-1. In the finals, she won by a score of 1-0 to take the gold medal leaving silver for Turkey’s Azize Tanrikulu.

The bronze medal winners are Diana Lopez of the U.S.A. (who defeated Italy’s Calabrese in sudden death overtime) and Martina Zubcic of Croatia (who defeated Chinese Taipei’s Su Li-Wen in sudden death overtime).

In the men’s 68 kg, South Korea’s Son Taejin defeated Dennis Bekkers of the Netherlands in the preliminary match by a score of 4-3. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Turkey’s Servet Tazegul with a score of 1-0. In the semifinals, he won by a score of 7-6 sending Chinese Taipei’s Sung Yu-Chi to the bronze medal match. In the finals, he took the gold medal with a score of 3-2 leaving Mark Lopez of the U.S.A. with a silver medal.

The bronze medal winners are Turkey’s Tazegul (who defeated Peter Lopez of Peru – not related to Mark Lopez and family) and Chinese Taipei’s Sung Yu-Chi (who defeated Germany’s Daniel Manz).

Summary of medal winners:

Women’s 57 kg
Gold South Korea Lim Sujeong
Silver Turkey Azize Tanrikulu
Bronze U.S.A. Diana Lopez
Bronze Croatia Martina Zubcic

Men’s 68 kg
Gold South Korea Son Taejin
Silver U.S.A. Mark Lopez
Bronze Turkey Servet Tazegul
Bronze Chinese Taipei Sung Yu-Chi

Congrats to the medallists!

~~~C